About the Faculty

Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Director, Myeloma Program
Associate Director, Clinical Research
Winship Cancer Institute
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA

Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, is a professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. He earned his medical degree from Andhra Medical College in India before relocating to the United States. He received his master’s in public health from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, Texas, and then completed his internship and residency at the Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine. He pursued a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, where he also served as chief fellow before he joined faculty.

Board certified in hematology and medical oncology, Nooka is the director of the Myeloma Program in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Emory and primarily focuses on multiple myeloma treatment and research. He is also the associate director of clinical research at Winship Cancer Institute. He is involved in numerous professional organizations, including the International Myeloma Working Group of the International Myeloma Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Nooka’s interests as a clinical investigator focus on multiple myeloma and bone marrow transplant. His research interests include integrating molecular and clinical data to risk-stratify myeloma and to evaluate newer myeloma therapeutic strategies aimed at prolonging survival in myeloma patients.

In addition to leading several investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored clinical trials, he is a recipient of several awards and grants and has published more than 300 articles and abstracts in high-quality peer-reviewed journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Blood, Leukemia, Lancet Oncology, Blood Advances, Blood Cancer Journal, and Cancer. He serves as a section editor for Cancer, is associate editor for Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia and is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Clinical Oncology. He is an invited or ad hoc reviewer for several prestigious journals including Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Leukemia, Cancer, Blood Advances, Blood Cancer Journal, American Journal of Hematology, British Journal of Hematology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, and Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Multiple Myeloma Program
Director, Stem Cell Transplant Program
Section of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Department of Medicine, Boston University
School of Medicine and
Boston Medical Center
Boston, MA

Raphael E. Szalat, MD, PhD, received his medical training at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, France. After internal medicine residency, Szalat specialized in immunology and plasma cell disorders, including multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathies of clinical significance, and became a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Immuno-Hematology in Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris. He next completed a PhD and postdoc in hematology, studying genomics in multiple myeloma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with La Sorbonne University, Paris, and a clinical fellowship in hematology and oncology at the Boston University Medical Center.

Szalat currently serves as director of the Multiple Myeloma Program and the Stem Cell Transplant Program at the Boston University Medical Center. His main interests are developing myeloma clinical trials and performing basic and translational research on multiple myeloma and other plasma cell disorders, including AL amyloidosis and other monoclonal gammopathies of clinical significance.

Chief Executive Officer
HealthTree Foundation

Jenny Ahlstrom is a wife, mother of 6 and multiple myeloma patient diagnosed in 2010. In her own myeloma journey, she identified gaps in services she believed could help patients better navigate their care while inviting patients to help accelerate a myeloma cure. Jenny grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, working for Hewlett Packard and then IBM as a mid-range Systems Engineer and Marketing Rep for healthcare software. She has been involved with tech startups over the last 30 years, supporting her husband Paul who is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and private equity investor. Together, they used their tech and startup experience to solve significant problems in cancer research through the lens of a patient.

After her diagnosis, Jenny launched the HealthTree Foundation in 2012 to create new strategies and approaches to accelerate research using cutting-edge technology. This included the creation of novel software platforms called HealthTree Cure Hub (for patients) and HealthTree Research Hub (for researchers).

Assistant Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Hematology/Oncology
Affiliate Faculty, Center for Forced Displacement
Boston, MA

Britney N. Bell, MD, is a clinical researcher committed to advancing equitable cancer care by designing accessible, patient-centered solutions for historically marginalized communities. With a focus on human-centered design and implementation science, Bell develops innovative strategies to transform the patient experience and ensure care is tailored to diverse needs. Her work centers on expanding disease education across multiple contexts to enhance communication between patients, providers, and the healthcare system. She is especially passionate about applying these approaches to improve risk communication, foster community engagement, and build capacity for populations affected by hematologic diseases.

Nurse Navigator
Boston Medical Center
Boston, MA

Jessica Jeune, RN, has been working at Boston Medical Center for the last 20 years. She started working as a certified nursing assistant in 2005 while going to nursing school at UMass Boston, where she graduated with her BSN. Jeune worked as a registered nurse in the float pool for 9 years, where she perfected her hands-on patient skills and interdisciplinary communication. She then transitioned to become a nurse in the hematology/oncology clinic, where she has been working the last 9 years. She is now permanent charge nurse on this unit, where she can further grow and specialize her nursing skills. Jeune’s professional passion involves caring for the underserved, low-income population of patients, paralleling the mission of Boston Medical Center.

Physician Assistant
Texas Oncology-Plano West
Plano, TX

Jaime Román III, MPAS, PA-C, is a physician assistant currently working at Texas Oncology-Plano West. Originally from Bryan, Texas, Román graduated from Texas A&M University in 2009. He then went on to finish his clinical studies at UT Southwestern School of Health Professions, earning his masters in physician assistant studies in December 2012. He began working as an outpatient physician assistant at the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, focusing on hematologic malignancies and bone marrow transplantation starting in January 2013. He was promoted to Lead Advanced Practice Provider at UT Southwestern in October of 2016. After 2 years in this role, Román transitioned to the community oncology setting in Plano. His clinical interests include chronic leukemias, epigenetics in cancer, genomic mutations, and targets for cancer therapy. He enjoys speaking and education and is an active lecturer for new advanced practice providers entering the US Oncology Network as well as for physician assistant students at UT Southwestern.

Oncology Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Winship Cancer Institute
Emory Healthcare
Atlanta, GA

Sara Scott, PharmD, BCOP, is a board-certified clinical pharmacy specialist in multiple myeloma at Emory Winship Cancer Institute. She received a BS in biomedical engineering at the University of Utah. She completed her PharmD at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After school, she completed her PGY1 pharmacy residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and her PGY2 oncology pharmacy residency at The University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas. She is an active member of Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association and the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Her professional interests include multiple myeloma, bone marrow transplant, and cellular therapy.

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine at Boston University and Boston Medical Center
Boston, MA

Camille Edwards, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (BUSM) at Boston University and Boston Medical Center (BMC). After internal medicine residency, Edwards completed her hematology and oncology fellowship at BUSM/BMC, obtaining rigorous clinical and research training through the comprehensive cancer center, the world-renowned BU Amyloidosis Center, and the Center for Regenerative Medicine. As a physician-scientist and hematologist, her clinical and research platforms are multifaceted. In her clinical capacity, she not only provides care for patients with hematologic diseases but also advocates for patients through peer education and community-based patient education programs. Her translational research focuses on deciphering the socioenvironmental and molecular context of plasma cell disorders. Edwards’s work has led to several prestigious awards from the American Society of Hematology, the International Myeloma Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health’s Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity.